"I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I'd like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he'd be broke, I'd bring out a different song and immediately he'd receive all the money he needed." -Saint John Coltrane

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Good day all. Today's post is a nice little gem from 1972 on Fantasy, courtesy of Esther Marrow, née Queen Esther Marrow. There are some killer grooves, a couple of nasty breaks, and a great (shifting) band throughout, though the real focus is the angelic pipes of Ms. Marrow, who got her first big break singing in the first "Sacred Concert" that Ellington put on in 1966. For an excellent read check out her biography here, although it does curiously omit any mention of her excursions into worldly music, including another killer album on Flying Dutchman, Newport News, Virginia, from a couple of years earlier.

A nice mix of gospel, soul, and just a pinch of funk, the album features the song-writing and arranging talents of the formidable 70s Fantasy stable of artists, and throughout projects a nice balance of documentary-style slices of urban life and "love is the answer" positivity. Be sure to check out the Jimmy Johnson/Ralph McDonald break on "Things Ain't Right."